Should Wasps Worry About the Loss of the Last Supreme Court Protestant?

Protestant influence over affairs in the U.S. peaked quite some time ago.

Elena Kagan’s nomination for the Supreme Court has prompted a fresh round of talk about the decline of the Protestant establishment. If she is confirmed, Kagan would join a Court that, for the first time in its history, includes not a single White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. And, as many commentators have pointed out, this is just the latest example of the Protestant elite’s steady loss of influence in the modern era. (I wrote a series of blog posts on this very subject for VF.com back in 2008.)

A number of theories have been advanced to explain why Wasps have yielded their once powerful status and positions at the highest levels of government and business. Some people feel that centuries of exclusionary practices based on racial and financial prejudices have limited the group’s ability to grow and keep pace with new cultural realities. Others suggest that the growing diversity in our society, coupled with an increasing emphasis on meritocratic values, has enabled previously restricted groups to flourish and rival Wasp dominance. Both arguments strike me as valid, both generally speaking and in the specific case of the Supreme Court.What I find particularly fascinating about the end-of-an-era chatter concerning the court’s new makeup, though, is the fact that many Wasps themselves don’t appear to be aware of it. Despite prominently placed stories in the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, among other outlets, the Protestants I’ve spoken to hadn’t heard about the subject until I brought it up. This is so peculiar that I almost wonder if it represents a subconscious avoidance of unwelcome information.

And when I did raise the subject, I didn’t get much of a reaction, beyond an initial expression of surprise. One individual remarked that the transformation represented a complete departure from the Founding Father’s vision for the country, but he didn’t say much after that. Like many before it, the conversation ended abruptly and after only a few words.

What does this reticence say about the Kagan nomination and its implications for upper-class society? Well, for one thing, the topic clearly hasn’t captured the attention of Wasps, who are far more likely to get worked up over the latest twists and turns in the World Cup. Their reluctance to acknowledge the Court’s evolution probably reveals some genuine feelings of ambivalence among Protestants, but I don’t detect any anger or buried resentment. What I do sense is a passive submission to the inevitable.